ngw

It depends on what you listen to. The Liars, for instance, are much more credible as musicians. Their music is certainly modern, and it's definitely a kind of 2000s sabbath. Incredible, no satanic symbols but a mess of good, healthy attitude. I don't particularly like them, but whatever ... Just to name one. The problem is that any real novelty today is perhaps a bit inaccessible (due to distribution, marketing, and the music itself) and the novelties from MTV, at best, are just regurgitated stuff from 20 years ago that, after 20 years, has become listenable even for the masses. There are a thousand Joy Division clones in the charts, I’d say that’s enough.

Where you see this sense of aesthetics, only you know... I think you’re confusing Manson with the good old glam (which Manson sadly degrades, turning it into a nice plastic transgression good for MTV). A dandy inspired by Oscar Wilde with an evident inclination towards self-destruction and sexual promiscuity? Are you talking about Lou Reed, Roxy Music, or, to be generous, David Bowie? Take a good look at the release dates of Transformer, Avalon, and Hunky Dory and tell me again about this novelty :) Manson is quite an unworthy commercialization of ideas that existed 35 years ago, stripped of the "essence" of the message, spat out into a rather pathetic "everyone against everyone," with a few brushstrokes of what has actually happened in these 35 years. I keep metal at a good distance; I barely know who Slayer are.

Please, let’s not talk about “transgression” just because someone dresses like a fool and goes against the wind. In bowling a columbine, any clown would have come out well; it’s not that responding to the nonsense of the American Republican Party is that difficult. He mixed insights from different artists in a way that is chewable and digestible for the mass audience, which, indeed, chewed and digested it. But it’s low-grade rock, it neither adds nor subtracts, absolutely harmless. He can quote Pasolini and Wilde as much as he wants; the fact is that the selfishness underlying his music is always superficial and quite gullible, just to give something for the kids to believe in. How the hell do you transgress if, at the same time, you pamper your entire audience? Truly transgressive groups are something else.

But do you know I'm hurt to death? Please stop, you're really hurting me :)

I love those who confuse grades and their own IQ :) People, you're not always under examination, even without having to announce it to the world - believe me - it's noticeable :)

Look, just listen to the very American Negazione and Indigesti ... :)

Honestly - and I say honestly - please don't compare XTC to The Police. It's stupid and harmful to make such comparisons, but XTC have had a simply extraordinary career, while The Police, after their first two splendid albums, declined quite a bit. Their merit is having been among the first to do a crossover between punk and "other" (in this case reggae), producing tracks that are often well above average (Bring on the Night, a wonder, Contact, another wonder), but they haven't really influenced rock music that much; there were already crossovers, and there were also astonishing musicians like the three blondes. In short, The Police are a delight to listen to but if I were to write a history of rock, I would simply "mention" them :) XTC started from punk, made it pop and English, released at least 4 masterpiece albums, and taught pop how to arrange music. They are an absolutely essential band, for me far superior to The Police (with all due respect), and with that legendary vibe that befits those who truly matter in rock. I say not only does Brit-pop owe its butt to XTC, but 90% of rock pop music does as well. To say that XTC composes worse than The Police is like moving Christmas three months away from the Madonna you've pulled out :p It's foolish to choose; both are worth having (though I might leave the aforementioned album in the store without feeling too guilty - the important thing is to have the first two studio albums and the mega-live).

Absolutely stunning album, absolutely absolutely stunning. They have something of the Sigur Ros, it's true, but I believe the intent is different; the album has a tension that makes them somewhat similar to Slint - but they also draw a lot from Bark Psychosis. And they also offer new experiments, with arrangements that are extremely different from classic post-rock/post-everything, using unconventional instruments for the genre, glancing at shoegaze without distorting the album (this time it's me throwing in MBV randomly, sorry, but the female vocals...). But for God's sake, what an album, one of those that you discover and think you've caught just in time to appreciate it after 10 years. Post-rock will come and go, that's for sure, 5 out of 5, it can't get any better.

nothing much, come on ... better, much better a Heyday than this, even though I listened to it quite a bit back in the day.

Let's say that text comprehension is not your strong suit :D